BRIDGEPORT -- Forget this year's legislative campaigns, or the mayoral, City Council and school board elections in 2015.

The first important races for the city's future are Tuesday, when Democratic voters pick members of Bridgeport's powerful Democratic Town Committee in an unusually high number of primaries.

To call the winners "kingmakers" may seem hyperbolic, but it's true.

"This is all about political power, nothing else," said Lennie Grimaldi, who for years has closely observed city campaigns, or been directly involved in them. "What people don't understand is town committee members have influence. They have juice."

The 90-member committee -- nine representatives from each of 10 districts -- helps steer the direction of the city by nominating candidates for local and state races.

There are primaries scheduled in seven of those 10 districts. Victory goes to the top nine vote-getters in each one.

"It's certainly more primaries at one time than I have seen in the 15 or so years I've been involved," said Ruben Felipe, Mayor Bill Finch's deputy chief-of-staff.

Like the job Finch is doing? Want to see a change? The mayor needs 46 supporters on the Democratic Town Committee when he seeks his nomination for a third term next year.

Are you frustrated there is no way to force Registrar of Voters Sandy Ayala and her daughter, freshman state Rep. Christina Ayala, out of office over alleged campaign violations? Or do you think the Ayalas have been unfairly targeted by state elections officials?

The town committee could determine their political futures, as well.

The leadership of the party may also be on the line. North End restaurateur Mario Testa, the veteran Democratic chief whose relationship with Finch runs hot and cold, is not facing a primary Tuesday and plans to seek the committee chairmanship again.

But Danny Roach, owner of Matty's Corner bar in Black Rock and a town committee member, may try to oust Testa.

"It might be time for a change," Roach said.

Voter participation in Tuesday's primaries is expected to be low.

The Town Clerk's Office said turnout is usually about 5 percent. That means the races could be decided by the hundreds of absentee ballots the office has issued, particularly if there is a major snowstorm.

Ironically, it was the rare losses suffered by the Democratic Town Committee in City Council and Board of Education races last year that set the stage for Tuesday's primaries.

In 2013, several outsiders won primaries over the establishment's choices and went on to win November's general elections, which observers said emboldened others to seek a place at the town committee's table.

Or as Testa tells it, challengers "smell blood."

Freshman Councilwoman Trish Swain, D-132, was among those residents who forced a successful primary against a party-backed council incumbent in 2013. Swain, an outsider willing to question the Finch administration, now wants to join the town committee.

"Those voters ... now should be saying, `OK, let's challenge the people who made those choices, who made those (losing) endorsements,' " Swain said. "Things are shaking up. Let's ride the wave."

But the races aren't all about political newcomers wanting to shake up the establishment.

Sometimes, it's the establishment teamed with newcomers. Other times, it's the establishment versus the establishment.

In the district representing portions of the East Side and Hollow neighborhoods, two recently ousted city councilmen -- Angel dePara and Carlos Silva -- are battling to retain their committee seats against a slate that includes their replacements on the council and some veteran City Hall employees.

Also on the East Side, Councilwoman Lydia Martinez, D-137, and Maria Valle -- frequent political opponents -- reached a truce and are competing for town committee seats against a slate organized by Christina Ayala's father, Tito, another veteran of Bridgeport politics.